Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.
Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894), ch. 12
MT
Mark Twain quotes
1835-1910 · Writers and poets
American humorist and novelist, author of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
10 quotes, 10 traced to where Twain said or wrote them.
Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.
Note to the Young People's Society, Greenpoint Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn (February 16, 1901)
The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter, 'tis the difference between the lightning-bug and the lightning.
Letter to George Bainton (October 15, 1888)
Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs one step at a time.
Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894), ch. 6
Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't.
Following the Equator (1897), ch. 15
Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please.
Interview by Rudyard Kipling, From Sea to Sea (1899)
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
Mark Twain's notebook (1904)
Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with.
Following the Equator (1897), ch. 48
The report of my death was an exaggeration.
Note to reporter Frank Marshall White, London (May 31, 1897)
Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been.
Following the Equator (1897), ch. 52